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The world's most dangerous cities?

(CNN) -- Urban cityscapes uniting large and vastly diverse populations have long been sources of great inspiration, commerce and community spirit, but for as long as they have existed, cities have also been beset by their own dangers.

While it's a fair to say no city, where humans interact freely, is spared the scourges of violence and criminal activity, it is also evident that some are far more affected than others.

It's a tall order to quantify these problems and rank cities in terms of the most dangerous, particularly in countries so ravaged by conflict and chaos that day-to-day safety is only a distant dream for many inhabitants.

Such concepts of danger may also be highly subjective, with what is considered nothing more than a nuisance by one person being another's living nightmare.

Nevertheless, studies have identified a handful of cities -- where comparable data is available -- considered more risky than others.